


Words of Rest and Hope

by coolbreezemage



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: Fire Emblem: Three Houses Blue Lions Route, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-07
Updated: 2020-12-07
Packaged: 2021-03-10 05:41:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,005
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27929197
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/coolbreezemage/pseuds/coolbreezemage
Summary: If Seteth is to be forbidden from recognizing Flayn, he will consider all students here his children.-Dimitri falls asleep during a sermon.
Relationships: Dimitri Alexandre Blaiddyd/Dedue Molinaro
Comments: 3
Kudos: 58





	Words of Rest and Hope

Seteth is writing a sermon.

Flayn has suggested countless times that he could simply reuse one he gave a few decades ago and no one would be the wiser, but Seteth finds the thought distasteful. He likes to tailor each one to the audience and the times they’re facing, and crafting a new text is far more satisfying than dissecting and repurposing something meant for a different time.

The poetry of words, the art of fitting them together to blend sound and rhythm and meaning, that is something he has always appreciated. 

If he is to be forbidden from recognizing Flayn, he will consider all students here his children. And so his congregation deserves fresh work. 

He is in the middle of delivering it when something happens that he will never forget.

He casts his eyes out to the audience. Most are listening, some are distracted or fidgeting. Hilda and Caspar are passing notes. Marianne has her hands clasped together and her eyes on the great stained-glass image of the Goddess. 

Seteth turns to the Blue Lions class and pauses at what he sees. Prince Dimitri, asleep against his retainer’s shoulder. 

It’s not that Seteth hasn’t seen this sort of thing before. Manuela has dozed off any number of times during his sermons, and students whatever the era have always had a tendency to forgo sleep in favor of studying or socializing, heedless of the morning’s consequences. But Dimitri is usually unfailingly attentive. Is he unwell today? Or is there something deeper wrong, something arising from deep and unhealed scars? Seteth knows many of Dimitri’s class have faced things no child should ever have to see. 

And what aid is there he can give but for his words? He has tried to give all of the Academy’s students a safe, welcoming place to live, but the realities of their training often come close to proving that a lie. He has told them they will be heard if they choose to speak of their troubles, but few do. 

He can never do enough. But he will do what he can.

Seteth finishes his sermon and dismisses the congregation.

Dimitri doesn’t wake when the others stand and head towards the great doors. His state doesn’t go unnoticed. Some politely ignore the prince, some giggle behind their hands. Mercedes, ever gentle and caring, silently coos over the sight and ushers the others out without disturbing his rest. 

Dedue remains still as a rock in the sea, unmoving as the rest flow around him.

Seteth tucks his papers away and approaches the pair.

Up close, he can study Dimitri’s face, and his suspicions are all but confirmed by what he finds there. Dimitri is unhealthily pale, and the skin under his eyes is sallow and dark with exhaustion. This is something more serious than a few nights spent studying textbooks by lamplight. But there is nothing he can say, nothing that would be heard. 

Dedue, silent and still, watches Seteth. There’s a look in his eyes that isn’t deference no matter how much it looks like it. It’s a promise to protect, a willingness to sacrifice whatever he must for the sake of another.

Seteth knows that feeling well. 

“When he wakes,” he finally says, quietly, “tell him to report to my office.”

He walks out of the cathedral, leaving the two alone. 

Let them think he doesn’t see what is obvious. It is not that they have hidden what is between them so much as that nobody around them has thought to look for it. Seteth will not question them. Will not warn them that love like that is rare and precious and irreplaceable. He suspects they know that already.

Barely a quarter of an hour later, Dimitri appears at his door, back straight but eyes still weary. Seteth wishes it could have been longer. 

“Come in.” Seteth pushes his notebook aside.

Dimitri takes enough steps to bring him into the office, and before Seteth can say anything, bows deeply to him.

“I apologize for my lapse today. It will not happen again. It was incredibly rude of me to-”

Seteth holds up a hand to halt the flow of self-recriminations. Dimitri sounds truly contrite. Seteth wonders idly if he was the sort of child who would cry inconsolably when scolded. Certainly not the sort who would break rules for fun.

“That is not what I called you here for. Sit down.”

Dimitri obeys, still tense.

“In fact I am grateful to know that my words can bring someone rest. Even if it is not in the way I intended.”

Dimitri ducks his head, his ears growing pink. 

“I am truly sorry, sir.”

“You’re excused from classes tomorrow. You will use that time to rest. I will explain the situation to your professor. In addition, when you leave here, you will report to Manuela for a sleep aid.”

Dimitri hesitates. “Sir-“

Seteth sighs. “This is not a reprimand, Dimitri. But if you continue in this way, it will be.” 

“I understand,” Dimitri says, wooden and distant. “Thank you.”

Seteth doubts the truth of both of those statements, but he says nothing, and allows Dimitri to leave without another word.

Months later, as conflict looms, and years later, in a crumbling monastery under the dark shadow of war, he will wonder if there was more he could have done in that moment, or if fate had always been flying in this direction, something that not even the will of the Goddess could alter. The question is not a useful one; the Red Canyon taught him that and more. 

When they return from the Great Bridge with Dedue among their number, for the first time in a long while he has hope. He seems Dimitri begin to consider that there might be more to his life than revenge. He sees how that frightens him. 

There are too many children whom this world has failed. He only hopes that they can build a better one.

He starts writing again that night.


End file.
